adamg67

36 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Ah ok. Well I have a lowly Zoom B3n & Zoom MS60B in terms of multi-fx and they should in no way be comparable to the quality of the MB Multi-amp. However from everything I've heard the new Line 6 Helix range, which came out last year, this is a bit of a revelation in terms of quality and if the Helix HX (which is more in my price bracket rather than the 'full fat' version) had aux in, headphone and DI out it would be on my board like a shot...

If you go onto the Helix thread and you might be surprised at the amount of love this multi is getting from some pretty knowledgeable BC pedal experts.

A lot can happen in terms of pedal quality improvements in 3 years; in fact, as far as product quality goes, I'd go as far as to say that improvements in pedal technology is happening at a faster pace than in any other part of the signal chain. Particularly when Leo Fender pretty much got his first P bass 'right', how much real scope was there to take things on from there when it came to basses?

Thinking about it (I do this occasionally, though it doesn't always help) the Multiamp is pretty long in the tooth now, so I shouldn't be surprised that other things are overtaking it. I've already decided that when it can't keep up quality wise, I'll switch to the ipad for everything, including live. Amplitube max just blows me away, you can make choices based on what you think the amps will sound like and you get the sound you want - ANY sound you want pretty much - really quickly.

In fact, by the time I get bored with the multiamp it'll probably all run on my phone, or we won't have phones any more.

I think the software and the hardware are converging more as well, so you can have a dedicated unit with pedals etc and a bit of resilience to have on stage, but work on presets and setup on a tablet or PC and then just load them up. I'm guessing some stuff already does this pretty well, but in future it will be the gear that has a good software interface as well as good sounds that wins.

28 minutes ago, WinterMute said:

 but I needed a bit more power and went with a sweaty great Crown amp into the Big Twin.

I nearly bought a Crown amp just for the big number, luckily the multiamp saved me.

1 hour ago, WinterMute said:

 The MB was a cracking unit, but I didn't think it sounded any better than the Kemper or the Line6 units, it sounded different. Studio use of course.

I think it was the effects in the Multiamp that did it for me, espcially drive, pitch and filter.

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Very interesting and makes me want to have another look at the MB Multiamp. 

Have you tried out the new Helix or Helix HX in terms of A/B'ing against the Multiamp?

Ah, now, I should have said that I was looking at this stuff about 3 years ago, and looking at the gear that people had and that was in the rehearsal rooms. I'm sure the quality of the best of the mid range stuff will have gone up. The point I was originally trying to make was that the decent modelling gear I know about can easily hold it's own against analogue. As everything gets better that will be true of more and more digital gear.

For bass, I went through a stack of a analogue pedals (and amps, and a Sansamp RBI) before I got my fully digital / modelling MarkBass Multiamp. I sold all the pedals after that, it has better overdrive and filter as well as loads I never use, and the ability to get everything set up on presets.

For guitar, I've just got an iPad + iRig + Amplitube now.

Both rigs sound better than any combination of analogue gear I've ever had. I think both are better than the Line 6 stuff which I don't think has ever been better than average for modelling. I had a Vox modelling thing for a bit that I think was still better than the Line 6 gear, but not up to scratch with what I have now.

The Multiamp was just the best buy ever, £600 ish second hand and that's a power amp, mulitple amp models and all the effects I'll ever need, and all as good as the analogue versions. I use it as a power amp for the iRig as well as for a bass amp. Everything is on presets, and with an SD card so I could set up another multiamp the same way in seconds. The iPad + iRig + Amplitube set up was a bit more money but only because I went for a new iPad pro. Still cheap compared to a lot of gear.

I can't see any argument for using analogue gear now unless it's much cheaper than a digital rig, which it never ends up being. But that's up against decent modelling gear, NOT Helix / Line 6 which never has been the best.

So it was easy enough to reduce the choice by looking at the ones that actually fit. I'm considering a pair of these: xxP46C-B

Anyone used them? Since the bass itself isn't worth much I'm happy to add a couple of switches to get the most flexibility out of the pickups, which is why I'm looking at the quad coils. I would do probably series / parallel / single - I've done that on guitars before and it looks like you get the same effect on bass pickups.

I had another look at the current pickups and they aren't even labelled as Bartolinis, they're just Ibanez soapbars.

On 04/06/2018 at 19:54, Bluewine said:

IMO, Scott is only for guys willing and able to do the hard work.

This. SBL is well worth it if you've got the time to make the most of it.

In the interest of keeping things in one place: I've got a feedback thread here: 

which is now the "one true feedback for adamg67" topic.

In the interest of keeping things in one place: I've got a feedback thread here: 

which is now the "one true feedback for adamg67" topic.

I bought a Maruszczyk Elwood 5a from Dan and everything went super smooth, good comms and a nice cup of coffee (and a tea for the mrs) while I was trying the bass.

Perfect, deal with confidence, thanks Dan!

9 hours ago, CameronJ said:

The most obvious choice would be to replace the licensed (fake) Bartolini pups and preamp with the equivalent “real” USA Bartolini pups and preamp. They’ll drop right in.

The next question would be which real Bartolinis? They have a big range just of 6 string soapbars. Time for some reading and watching YouTube vids.

22 hours ago, BrunoBass said:

Sounds interesting. I listen to several favourite podcasts on my commute every day, would be good to have a bass one to listen to.

Just listen to a normal one, but with the treble and mid turned all the way down...

I am need in of BC wisdom... or failing that, a load of random opinions will do

I've got an Ibanez BTB456, it's a hell of a bass for what it cost (second hand), and it came fitted with a set of Thomastik-Infeld  flatwound strings that are probably the best (for me) strings I've ever played on anything. So I have an Ibanez neck that plays just amazingly (probably the best neck I've ever owned including amongst others Maruszczyk, Fender, PRS guitars, Gretsches, a Tanglewater and lots of other Ibanezes) and strings that just seem to suit it really well.

What I'd like to do now is upgrade the pickups and preamp to something that gets me as excited as the rest of the bass, it has the Bartolini Mk1 pickups which I think are not even real Bartolinis? And a relatively generic preamp. I'm looking for something quite "pure" rather than a very coloured sound (I've got a Maruszczyk Jake 5A+, and an Elwood 5A on the way, for colour). Any suggestions for pups and preamp for a "fake boutique" 6 string?

Dunlop DVP1 Volume Pedal

Nice solid basic volume pedal, just has in/out + "tuner" output (which is just an unaffected output really, which does mean you can tune with the volume off) and a screw for adjusting the tension. Not light at just under 2kg but that's deliberate so it doesn't move around when you're using it.

It's in very good nick and hardly used. There are a couple of imperfections in the finish but they have always been there, I think maybe that's just the way the finish is on these.

£35 including economy postage (Hermes or RM 2nd), or collect it from BD20 (Silsden) or HX7 (Hebden Bridge).

No Trades thanks.

I've got an oldish BTB 456, like this one, tiny bit of neck dive but otherwise I just love it. It has Tomastik flats on it which just seem to suit it perfectly. Sounds good and plays lovely, a definite keeper. Reasonably understated which i like. Fretboard like an aircraft carrier flight deck but I seem to like that as well. £350 with the flats already on it.

This is a genuinely interesting and amusing basschat thread.

Yahama Piaggero NP-11 61 key digital piano / keyboard

Fully working and in good condition.

Line out
MIDI in/out
Built in speakers

61 Non weighted touch sensitive keys

Light weight (4.5kg)

Works as a digital piano with 10 different voices and 32 note polyphony. With the built in speakers, you can just sit down and play it, and if all you want is a basic piano sound you can run it straight in to a PA or keys amp, though the on bord sounds 

Works as a MIDI keyboard using the MIDI out, and I also have an M-Audio Midisport USB MIDI interface (+ USB cable) which I can throw in for £10 which will turn it into USB midi device. This was my midi keyboard for recording, and I've only replaced it because I'm trying to learn piano "properly" so I wanted weighted keys, plus I wanted a keyboard with some rotary & DAW controls.

Works from AC Power (PSU included) or on 6 AA batteries - I've used it as a MIDI keyboard at rehearsals with just rechargable batteries and they lasted a 3 hour session.

Removable music stand

Plus a Stagg gig bag which fits nicely and has a separate pocket for the power supply, plus MIDI cable.

Full details: https://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/musical_instruments/keyboards/piaggero/np-11/index.html

£85 collected from BD20 (Silsden) or Hebden Bridge. Not sure it's going to be worth posting it as it's too big for things like Hermes or Royal Mail, so would end up needing a courier.

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, had loads of things to sort out this last couple of weeks but back to normal now.

Yes, it's still available.

Yeah, I'm not sure what "Int Overall Length" is, but it's looking too short, never mind.

Could you tell me the max length it would take please? I've got a Maruszczyk Jake but it it's 35" scale + zero fret so I think it's longer than a normal P bass.

Probably last bump before it goes up for sale "elsewhere".

So, my current mini project is to have physical control of my virtual amps. I want 2-way comms with the controller, so that if I change presets or switch between tracks or plugins the values on the controller update.

I picked up a second hand Kenton Killamix Mini ([url="http://www.kentonuk.com/products/items/midicontrol/kmix-mini.shtml"]http://www.kentonuk.com/products/items/midicontrol/kmix-mini.shtml[/url]) for doing this, and it's a great little box. Not sure I'd pay £270 for one but at £100 off ebay I'm happy with it. It has 9 endless rotary encoders with LEDs round them, and 9 buttons, plus banks so by pushing any of the knobs you get a different midi channel, so 9 x 9 knobs and 9 x 9 buttons easily selectable, plus you can can get more by holding down knob 9 and pressing another one. Class compliant, talks to anything, I really like it.

The tricker bit is getting 2-way comms with the virtual amp and fx plugins. They are all geared up for one-way MIDI control, which IMO is no good at all for controlling parameters - it's a proper PITA just for turning stomps on and off, I've been through all that with my multiamp.

What you do get now with DAWs, including Studio One v3, is the ability to map a control surface to a plugin using the automation interface between the DAW and the plugin. That's designed for both read and write and is a normal way for the DAW and eg Amplitube to communicate.

Sadly, it's not that simple. First, Amplitube and BIAS FX have a limited number of automatable parameters which you configure to control what you want. That seems to make them look different to the DAW, but after much faffing I've got the 2-way control working - but by trial and error, and the method for getting it mapped is not how it shows you in all the videos. Quite a few people have given up at that point from what I can see, but I perservered.

Anyway, you soon run out at 16 parameters for Amplitube and even 20 for BIAS, although that's more workable. I probably could have worked around that but by this point I was determined to make it work. So I thought I'd just have an instance of Amplitube for stomps and one for amps, that would be fine. Set it up, it works, saved it, loaded it again, all instances of amplitube have the same mapping instead of the different ones I'd set up for stomps and amps. Goes the same way with plugin presets, it seems like I can have one mapping per plugin, not per instance of that plugin. So in the end I've found a VST wrapper that has 100 parameters and lets you map them to multiple plugins, so with that it looks like I can get it to do what I want. It's just taken ages longer than it should and is more complicated to set up, which takes the edge off the niceness of having real knobs to tweak.

... or are there still some serious problems with the attitude to standards and inter-operability in the computer music world? It seems like a lot of companies have Microsoft's Disease, abusing standards or coming up with their own way of doing things.

I'm reasonably technically savvy (MSc in parallel computing and 25+ successful years in development, ops and other tech fields, and still going strong) but I've never had so many technical problems with anything as I have with the music related stuff I've used in the last 10-15 years. I know it does amazing things, but sometimes things just don't work when they should.

Anyone else feel like the digital audio companies that take our money also take the p*ss when it comes to making things actually work properly, especially with other company's software or gear?

The was a slightly ironic story to selling the orange head, and the weighty 4x12 fake Marshall cab I had, to a mate when I switched to Bass - he then recruited me as bass player for his band and as he was carless and lazy, I still ended up carting it around half the time, as well as a Peavey TNT 150 that felt like someone had filled it with concrete.

Lightweight gear is one of the wonders of the 21st century.

I am tempted to say my old Orange valve head (guitar, not bass), but it was heavy (in weight) and only did one sound, so I'm not sure I really would have it back.

I sold my first "proper" guitar, a nice white Ibanez Les Paul copy, and spent 30 years not finding anything I liked as much, until I bought a PRS earlier this year.

I wish I had kept my MarkBass Traveler 102p cab, I kept the 151 instead and I like it but the 102 was so light and good enough for pretty much anything.